Systems and methods for providing leads and appointments

ABSTRACT

Methods disclosed for lead generation relate to matching prospective applicants with educational institutions. Prospective applicants provide personal information and educational background information which are used to find matching educational institutions. Methods include enhancing connections between education institutions and prospective applicants by setting up mutually agree appointments. Systems and apparatuses are also disclosed to implement the disclosed methods.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/842,334, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING LEADS ANDAPPOINTMENTS” and filed Sep. 1, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/837,797, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODSFOR PROVIDING LEADS AND APPOINTMENTS” and filed Mar. 15, 2013, which inturn claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/762,442, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING LEADS ANDAPPOINTMENTS” and filed Feb. 8, 2013, the contents of these applicationsbeing incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods formatching applicants with educational institutions.

SUMMARY

In exemplary embodiments, a system and method for matching applicantswith educational institutions comprises an appointment system furthercomprising one or more databases having institution data, user data, andother data. The appointment system may operatively connect to one ormore institutions, one or more web properties, and one or more userdevices.

In exemplary embodiments, institutions registering with the appointmentsystem provide institution information, such as campus locations,tuition prices, offered programs, etc., and target applicant criteriainformation, such as, for example, GPA requirements, graduation year,geography, interests, etc. The appointment system obtains from theregistering institutions appointment information, including, forexample, available appointment times, locations, representativesinformation, campus information, programs, etc. The appointment systemstores the data as institution information in one or more databases.

In exemplary embodiments, the appointment system receives an educationmatch request from a user device, for example through an interface onthe user device. The user may register with the appointment system byproviding personal information, including name, address, age, backgroundinformation, etc., and providing educational information, such as, thehighest education degree completed, degree type, educationalpreferences, etc., which is received and stored as user information bythe appointment system.

In exemplary embodiments, after receiving the user information, theappointment system accesses the institution information. Based at leastin part on the received user information and accessed institutioninformation the appointment system determines one or more matchinginstitutions, if any, and stores a record of such matches. In exemplaryembodiments, the matches determined by the appointment system mayinclude one or more sponsored institutions prioritized for displaying tousers. The matching results are provided to the user device.

After providing matches to a user device, the user may select one ormore of the matches through the interface and select one or more optionsassociated with the selected match, such as a specific program, anappointment time, etc. The appointment system receives the appointmentselection and sends one or more notifications, including the details,location, directions, contact person(s) to the user device. Thenotifications may be in the form of emails, text messages, automatedphone calls, and/or calendar appointments. In embodiments, after anappointment time period has been selected, the appointment systemcommunicates to the user or user device information regarding theselected matching institution, for example, information regarding aninstitution's programs, tuition costs, campus information, locationinformation, etc. In some embodiments, the appointment system mayprovide directions to the institution in the case of a scheduledface-to-face appointment.

In some exemplary embodiments, the appointment system provides an optionand receives a request to connect with a contact person associated withselected matching institution. The appointment system in response canconnect the user of the user device with a contact person through, forexample, text messaging, instant messaging, phone calls, video chat,etc.

In exemplary embodiments, the appointment system collects data andstatistics about the users of the appointment system which can beincluded in generated reports provided to the participatinginstitutions.

According to exemplary embodiments, a method may include the steps ofreceiving, at one or more computers from a requestor device, a requestfor one or more educational institution matches; obtaining, at the oneor more computers via an interface, user information associated with auser of the requestor device, the user information comprising (1) useridentification data including information identifying the user; (2)demographic data including information identifying demographic datarelated to the user; (3) location data including information indicatingone or more addresses associated with the user; (4) education dataincluding information indicating educational background of the user; (5)education preference data including information indicating educationalpreferences for the user; and (6) contact data including informationindicating contact information for the user.

The method may further include the steps of accessing, by the one ormore computers, one or more electronic databases stored on one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media and operatively connectedto the one or more computers, the one or more databases comprisinginformation for a plurality of educational institutions, including forthe respective institutions: (1) user educational identification dataincluding information identifying the user; (2) education location dataincluding information identifying one or more locations associated withthe respective educational institution; (3) education program dataincluding information related to education programs associated with therespective educational institution;

-   -   (4) education requirements data including information indicating        admission requirements and admission preferences for respective        educational institution; (5) representative data including        information indicating representatives for the respective        educational institution; and (6) appointment data including        information indicating scheduled and available times; and the        step of determining, by the one or more computers, based at        least in part on the obtained user information, one or more        educational institutions as matches.

Further, method may include the steps of providing, by the one or morecomputers, the one or more education institution matches as selectableoptions to the requestor device via the interface; transmitting, by theone or more computers to one or more computers associated with each ofthe matched educational institutions, a notification to each of theeducational institution matches, the notification including a messageindicating that the educational institution matches a prospect;obtaining, at the one or more computers from the requestor device viathe interface, a selection of at an educational institution;determining, by the one or more computers, one or more availableappointment times for the for the selected educational institution;obtaining, at the one or more computers, a selection of one or moreappointment times for the selected educational institution;transmitting, by the one or more computers to one or more computersassociated with the selected educational institution, aconfirmation-seeking message requesting confirmation of the selectedappointment time with a designated representative of the selectededucational institution; obtaining, at the one or more computers, amessage indicating confirmation of the appointment time by selectededucational institution with a designated representative; andtransmitting, by the one or more computers, a confirmation message tothe requestor device confirming the date, time, location.

In some exemplary embodiments, the method may further include the stepsof transmitting, by the one or more computers to the requestor devicevia the interface, directions to the selected educational institution;and transmitting, by the one or more computers, a request a third partyservice to cause a map illustrating the directions to be displayed onthe interface on the requestor device.

In some embodiments, method may include the step of transmitting, by theone or more computer's to the requestor device, a reminder notificationregarding the confirmed appointment.

The obtained user's education data may relate or include informationregarding at least one of a high school, college, or postgraduate schoolattendance dates. The obtained user's data may relate or includeinformation regarding one or more degrees completed by the user to theextent it exist. The education data may further include or indicate theuser's grade point average in at least one of high school, college, orpostgraduate school.

In some exemplary embodiments at least one of the provided educationinstitution matches is sponsored match.

A method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventioncomprises: (a) receiving, at one or more computers from a requestordevice, a request for one or more educational institution matches; (b)obtaining, at the one or more computers via an interface, userinformation associated with a user of the requestor device, the userinformation comprising (1) user identification data includinginformation identifying the user; (2) demographic data includinginformation identifying demographic data related to the user; (3)location data including information indicating one or more addressesassociated with the user; (4) education data including informationindicating educational background of the user; (5) education preferencedata including information indicating educational preferences for theuser; and (6) contact data including information indicating contactinformation for the user; (c) accessing, by the one or more computers,one or more electronic databases stored on one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media and operatively connected to the one ormore computers, the one or more databases comprising information for aplurality of educational institutions, including for the respectiveinstitutions: (1) user educational identification data includinginformation identifying the user; (2) education location data includinginformation identifying one or more locations associated with therespective educational institution; (3) education program data includinginformation related to education programs associated with the respectiveeducational institution; (4) education requirements data includinginformation indicating admission requirements and admission preferencesfor respective educational institution; (5) representative dataincluding information indicating representatives for the respectiveeducational institution; and (6) appointment data including informationindicating scheduled and available times; (d) determining, by the one ormore computers, based at least in part on the obtained user information,one or more educational institutions as matches; (e) providing, by theone or more computers, the one or more education institution matches asselectable options to the requestor device via the interface; (f)transmitting, by the one or more computers to one or more computersassociated with each of the matched educational institutions, anotification to each of the educational institution matches, thenotification including a message indicating that the educationalinstitution matches a prospect; (g) obtaining, at the one or morecomputers from the requestor device via the interface, a selection of aneducational institution; (h) providing, by the one or more computers tothe requestor device, an option to schedule an appointment with a thirdparty representative that is not affiliated with the selectededucational institution; (i) receiving, at the one or more computersfrom the requestor device, a request to schedule an appointment with thethird party representative; (j) determining, by the one or morecomputers, one or more available appointment times for the selectededucational institution; (k) transmitting, by the one or more computers,a request to select one or more appointment times for the selectededucational institution; (1) upon the condition that an appointment timeis selected, transmitting, by the one or more computers to one or morecomputers associated with the selected educational institution, aconfirmation-seeking message requesting confirmation of the selectedappointment time with a designated representative of the selectededucational institution; (m) obtaining, at the one or more computers, amessage indicating confirmation of the appointment time by selectededucational institution with a designated representative; (n)transmitting, by the one or more computers, a confirmation message tothe requestor device confirming the date, time, location; (o)transmitting, by the one or more computers to the requestor device viathe interface, directions to the selected educational institution; and(p) transmitting, by the one or more computers, a request to a thirdparty service to cause a map illustrating the directions to be displayedon the interface on the requestor device.

A method according to another exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention comprises: (a) receiving, at one or more computers from arequestor device, a request for one or more educational institutionmatches; (b) obtaining, at the one or more computers via an interface,user information associated with a user of the requestor device, theuser information comprising (1) user identification data includinginformation identifying the user; (2) demographic data includinginformation identifying demographic data related to the user; (3)location data including information indicating one or more addressesassociated with the user; (4) education data including informationindicating educational background of the user; (5) education preferencedata including information indicating educational preferences for theuser; and (6) contact data including information indicating contactinformation for the user; (c) accessing, by the one or more computers,one or more electronic databases stored on one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media and operatively connected to the one ormore computers, the one or more databases comprising information for aplurality of educational institutions, including for the respectiveinstitutions: (1) user educational identification data includinginformation identifying the user; (2) education location data includinginformation identifying one or more locations associated with therespective educational institution; (3) education program data includinginformation related to education programs associated with the respectiveeducational institution; (4) education requirements data includinginformation indicating admission requirements and admission preferencesfor respective educational institution; (5) representative dataincluding information indicating representatives for the respectiveeducational institution; and (6) appointment data including informationindicating scheduled and available times; (d) determining, by the one ormore computers, based at least in part on the obtained user information,one or more educational institutions as matches; (e) providing, by theone or more computers, the one or more education institution matches asselectable options to the requestor device via the interface; (f)transmitting, by the one or more computers to one or more computersassociated with each of the matched educational institutions, anotification to each of the educational institution matches, thenotification including a message indicating that the educationalinstitution matches a prospect; (g) obtaining, at the one or morecomputers from the requestor device via the interface, a selection of aneducational institution; (h) determining, by the one or more computers,one or more available appointment times for the selected educationalinstitution; (i) determining, at the one or more computers, whether anappointment time has been selected from the one or more availableappointment times for the selected educational institution; (j) upon thecondition that an appointment time has not been selected: (i) obtaining,at the one or more computers from the requestor device via theinterface, a request to communicate with the selected educationalinstitution; (ii) determining, by the one or more computers, a contactof the selected educational institution; (iii) providing, by the one ormore computers, connection between the requestor device and the contactof the selected educational institution; (k) upon the condition that anappointment time has been selected: (i) transmitting, by the one or morecomputers to one or more computers associated with the selectededucational institution, a confirmation-seeking message requestingconfirmation of the selected appointment time with a designatedrepresentative of the selected educational institution; (ii) obtaining,at the one or more computers, a message indicating confirmation of theappointment time by selected educational institution with a designatedrepresentative; (iii) transmitting, by the one or more computers, aconfirmation message to the requestor device confirming the date, time,location; (iv) transmitting, by the one or more computers to therequestor device via the interface, directions to the selectededucational institution; and (v) transmitting, by the one or morecomputers, a request to a third party service to cause a mapillustrating the directions to be displayed on the interface on therequestor device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the present disclosure will be more fullyunderstood with reference to the following, detailed description whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying figure, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating an education appointment systemoperatively connected to one or more client devices and one or moreeducational institutions according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for adding aneducational institution to an education appointment system according toan exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for providingleads and/or appointments according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for connectingmatching users and institutions according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIGS. 5A-5I show exemplary screenshots of interfaces according to anexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6A-6D show exemplary screenshots according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosure generally relates to systems, methods, and programproducts for connecting potential applicants with institutions likeeducational institutions, vocational institutions, businessinstitutions, etc., and arranging appointments. In exemplaryembodiments, descriptive information regarding a plurality ofinstitutions is obtained from such institutions, their agents, and/orthird party sources and stored in databases. One or more of suchinstitutions may also provide target information which can includeapplicant target criteria which identifies the desired applicants.Prospective applicants can provide institution target criteria regardingthe applicants themselves and/or desired institutions. The system canthen match the institution target criteria of the applicant with one ormore matching institutions based at least in part on matchinginstitution target criteria, institution descriptive information and/orapplicant target information. In embodiments, institutions may beprovided a preferred listing. The prospective applicant may then beprovided with the ability to set up an appointment with the one or moreidentified institutions.

According to exemplary embodiments, FIG. 1, shows an appointment system,generally designated by number 5. The appointment system 5 mayoperatively connect to one or more user devices 30 a . . . 30Nassociated with one or more users. The user devices may include devicessuch as, for example, a laptop, desktop, smartphone, Blackberry, iPhone,iPad, Surface Tablet, tablet device, iPod, Android device, Windows 8device, and the like. In some exemplary embodiments, the user device 30may be associated with the appointment system 5. For example, associateduser devices may be owned, operated, or under the control of theappointment system 5 through a representative and/or employee of theappointment system 5. Such associated user devices may be customizedwith programs or functionalities described herein and may also includeadditional features, such as demos, presentations, videos, and the like,to induce people to use the appointment system 5 and find an educationalmatch. In this regard, some associated devices are located remotely tothe appointment system 5, such as in a mall, a kiosk, a park, a callcenter, or any suitable public or commercial place. In some exemplaryembodiments, various aspects of the appointment system 5 may beimplemented at one or more of the institutions.

In embodiments, user devices 30 may access the appointment system 5through an interactive portal using a web browser without any additionalor special software.

The appointment system 5 may be operatively connected to one or moreinstitution systems 40 a . . . 40N. The institution systems may includeone or more computer systems associated with one or more institutionparties, such as, for example, educational providers, businesses,organizations, and the like.

In exemplary embodiments, the appointment system 5, and by extension,any one of its components, may be operatively connected to one or morecomputer networks 50, such as, for example, WAN, LAN, phone, theInternet, or any other suitable network, via, by way of example, a setof routers and/or networking switches. The components of the appointmentsystem 5 are shown to be located together in FIG. 1. It is to beunderstood that in embodiments the one or more components of theappointment system 5 may be combined or separated in any suitablemanner. For example, one or more components may be located together onone or more computer systems that are operatively connected to othercomponents of the appointment system 5.

In exemplary embodiments, the appointment system 5 includes and/orimplements one or more engines 20 that may be implemented by one or moreprocessors/computing devices associated with the appointment system 5.In this regard, the various aspects of the engines may be implemented assoftware, which may be stored on one or more non-volatilecomputer/processor readable storage media and implemented in one or moreprocessors operatively connected thereto. In exemplary embodiments, eachengine can be stored separately or in combination with one or more otherengines on processor readable storage devices, which are operativelyconnected to one or more processors associated with the appointmentsystem 5.

In exemplary embodiments, the appointment system 5 can include a dataservices engine 20 a, a forms engine 20 b, a matching engine 20 c, anappointments engine 20 d, and/or a delivery engine 20 e, to name a few.For example, the data services engine 20 a may implement processesrelating to managing, maintaining, collecting, and/or securing access toconfiguration data for institutions and/or users. The forms engine 20 bmay implement processes relating to generating, providing, and/ordisplaying forms relating to institution and/or institutional offers.The matching engine 20 c may relate to implementing processes formatching one or more institutions with one or more users. The matchingengine 20 c can implement business rules provided by theinstitution/organization during the matching processes.

The appointments engine 20 d may relate to implementing processes forscheduling appointments and/or providing connections between users andinstitutions. The delivery engine 20 e may implement processes forproviding matching, appointment, and/or other information to the usersand/or institutions.

In exemplary embodiments, the appointment system 5 may include one ormore electronic databases 15, stored on one or more processor readablestorage devices, which may be operatively connected to the one or moreengines 20. The databases may include institution data 15 a, user data15 b, and other data 15 c, stored on one or more non-volatile computerstorage readable media. The institution data 15 a may include variousinformation regarding the institution. For example, in the case wherethe institution is educational, e.g., a college and/or university, theinstitution data 15 a may include the institution name, campuslocations, schools, offered programs, business rules, fill orders,delivery configurations, appointment information/availability, etc. Theuser data 15 b can be information relating to the user, including, forexample, name, age, address, contact information, financial information,preferences, etc. Similarly, in the context of an educationalinstitution, the user data 15 b can include educational background data,e.g., high school/college/graduate school accomplishments,grade-point-averages (GPAs), educational preferences, etc. The otherdata 15 c may be other data stored by appointment system 5 that isneeded by the appointment system 5. It is to be appreciated thatdifferent desired levels of education may require different types ofdata. For example, a 2-year tech degree, a 4-year college, a vocationalschool, and the like, to name a few, may require different types of datafrom each other in regards to a potential target or enrollee.

The appointment system 5 operatively connects, either directly and/orindirectly via the network 50 to one or more institutions 40 a, 40 b, .. . 40N. In exemplary embodiments, the appointment system 5 may providea web portal, APIs, downloadable application, and/or othercommunications methods to interface with the one or more institutions40. For example, an institution 40 may register and/or sign up with theappointment system via the web portal, which may be implemented via thedata services engine 20 a.

The appointment system 5 may also operatively connect with one or moreweb properties 60 a, 60 b, . . . , 60N, via the network 50. The one ormore web properties 60, may rely, use, and/or implement one or more ofthe services or components of the appointment system 5, such as theengines 20.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart for registering an educational systemwith the appointment system 5, according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present disclosure. In step 205, the appointment system 5 receives arequest to register from an institution. This request can be receivedfrom an institution through any suitable means, such as, applicationinterface, web interface, email, text message, phone call, fax, etc. Forexample, an institution 40 may connect via one or more of the webproperties 60 affiliated or associated with the appointment system 5.The web property, e.g., a web page/site, may allow an institution totransmit a registration request to the appointment system 5. At step210, the appointment system 5 provides an interface allowinginstitutions 40 to provide the required registration information. Theinterface may include one or more fields, drop-down boxes, or othermeans for institutions to provide and transmit information to theappointment system 5.

At step 215, the appointment system 5 obtains the registrationinformation about the institution. In embodiments, the registrationinformation may be received from the institutions and/or its agents viathird party systems, such as websites or browsers, etc. In the contextof an education institution, information related to campus locations,tuition prices, offered programs, etc., may comprise some of theinformation obtained by the appointment system 5. An educationalinstitution can also specify target criteria such as business rules forgenerating matches, e.g., rules related to GPA requirements, graduationyear, geography, interests, etc., in order to determine/find properusers or potential enrollees. The appointment system 5 can receive theinstitution information through any suitable means. For example, arepresentative or authorized individual affiliated with the institutioncan manually submit the required information to the appointment system5. In some embodiments, an application, such as a web crawler or thelike may manually retrieve and transfer the requisite information fromthe institution to the appointment system 5.

After obtaining the information regarding the institution, at step 225the appointment data services engine 20 a may finalize the initialregistration process by configuring and storing the registrationinformation for subsequent use. For example, the registrationinformation may be combined with prior information, such as, forexample, by updating, modifying, and/or replacing such priorinformation.

At step 230, the registering institution may request to set, provide,and/or modify the appointment information associated with theinstitution 40. Such requests may be submitted and received at any timeafter the registration information is received and stored. In responseto receiving such a request, at step 235, the appointment system 5 mayprovide an appointment interface for receiving appointment informationwith the institution 40. At step 240, the appointment system 5 receivesappointment information from the institution 40. In exemplaryembodiments, the interface can allow an institution to electronicallyupload appointment information to the appointment system 5, such as fromone or more computers associated with the institution 40. In exemplaryembodiments, an appointment interface may allow for the manual entry ormanual modification of the appointment information. Appointmentinformation may include the available appointment times, locations,representatives information, campus information, programs, etc. In someexemplary embodiments, the appointment information may specifyinformation regarding face-to-face appointments and/or non-face-to-faceappointments, e.g., a telephone appointment, video web appointment,instant messaging, etc. At step 245, the appointment system 5 mayconfigure and store the appointment information for subsequent use.

In exemplary embodiments, the appointment system 5 facilitatesconnecting institutions, such as colleges, universities, or othereducation institutions to users such as potential enrollees. FIG. 3illustrates, according to an exemplary embodiment, a flow chart forproviding institution matches to users.

At step 305, the appointment system 5 receives a request from a userdevice 30 to find a match. The user device 30 may send a request throughany suitable means, such as through a web site, an application, anapplication running on a computing device, email, text messaging,telephone/voice messaging, and the like, to name a few. For example, auser device 30 may access a website affiliated or associated with theappointment system 5 for providing matches for educational institutions.At step 310, an interface is generated or provided on the user device,such as through a website or by an application running on the userdevice 30. The interface may allow a user to register with theappointment system 5 and provide personal information, e.g., name,address, age, as well as provide background information needed for amatch. Referring back to the educational context, a user may providehighest education degree completed, degree type, educationalpreferences, etc.

FIGS. 5A-5B, show according to an exemplary embodiment, exemplaryscreenshots of an interface implemented on a website associated with theappointment system 5. As shown in FIG. 5A, a user may provideeducational background information and education preferences, while FIG.5B shows that a user may provide personal background information.

In exemplary embodiments, it may not be necessary for a user to provideinformation in order to set up an appointment. In this regard the usermay directly select an educational institution without any or withlittle background information provided.

FIGS. 5C-5E show according to an exemplary embodiment, an exemplaryseries of alternative screenshots of an interface implemented on awebsite or a device associated with the appointment system 5. Forexample, FIGS. 5C-5E, show interfaces allowing an individual to provideidentifying, address, and/or contact information.

FIGS. 5F-5H show according to an exemplary embodiment, another exemplaryseries of screenshots relating to scheduling an appointment. FIG. 5F,shows an interface prompting an individual to indicate whether they wishto have an appointment in the next 48 hours. If the individual indicatesyes, then as shown in FIG. 5G, the interface may allow the individual tochoose a date/time for an appointment. FIG. 5H shows the interface afterthe individual has or selected the option indicating they do not wish toset an appointment in the next 48 hours.

FIG. 5I shows according to an exemplary embodiment, an exemplaryscreenshot of an interface implemented on a device at a kiosk. Theinterface may allow an individual (applicant/lead) to choose anassociate with whom to deal and/or choose a desired location.

At step 315, the appointment system 5, obtains user information, such asby receiving, directly or indirectly from the user device, and storingthe user information in the electronic databases 15. At step 320, theappointment system 5 accesses the previously stored institutioninformation. Based at least in part on the received user information andaccessed institution information, at step 325 the appointment system 5determines one or more matching institutions, if any. A record of thesematches with respect to the particular user can be stored in theelectronic databases 15. The appointment system 5, at step 330,determines available appointment options for the user based on the userinformation and the determined matching institutions. In exemplaryembodiments, the appointment system determines one or more matchingsponsored institutions, which may be designated or prioritized fordisplay to the user device.

At step 335, the appointment system delivers the appointment matches andany associated appointment options to the user device, such as throughan interface on a website. FIG. 6A shows, according to an exemplaryembodiment, an exemplary screenshot of educational matches in responseto a user who has supplied user information to the appointment system 5.FIG. 6B shows, according to an exemplary embodiment, the interface ofFIG. 6A where a drop-down menu associated with one of the educationmatches has been selected to reveal a list of appointment options. Atstep 340, the appointment system 5 notifies the matching institutionsregarding the determined match with the user.

FIG. 4 illustrates, according to an exemplary embodiment, a flow chartfor providing connections between matching users and institutions. Insuch a scenario, the appointment system 5 may have already determinedand provided to a user device 30, institution matches. The user device30 may display the match information in an interface, such as, forexample, as in the exemplary screenshot of FIG. 6A. At step 405, theappointment system 5 receives a user selection of one or more of thematches. The user can select a match and may also select one or morefurther options associated with such a match. For example, referring toFIG. 6B, a user has made a selection by checking a box associated withthe “Everest Institute”. From a drop-down box, the user also selects the“Associate of Applied Management” program. At step 410, the appointmentsystem 5 receives an appointment selection from the user device 30.

As previously discussed, FIG. 6B shows an exemplary screenshot with adrop-down box populated with institution information for selectingappointment options. If an appointment option is selected, then at 420,the appointment system 5 sends one or more notifications to the userregarding the appointment, such as the details, location, directions,contact person(s), etc. The appointment system 5 may send a firstnotification via the interface after an appointment selection and/or maysend one or more reminder notifications. For example, the appointmentsystem 5 may send reminder notifications to the user device 30 usingemail, text messages, and/or automated phone calls, etc. In yet anotherexample, the appointment system may send a calendar appointment, such asan Outlook appointment, regarding the scheduled appointment.

In some situations, a user may desire information regarding the providedmatch(es) but may not wish, at least at that time, to schedule anappointment. If a user does not select an available appointment, then atstep 430, the appointment system 5 determines if the user wishes tocontact a representative of a selected match. The user, via the userdevice 30 can send an indication that they desire to communicate withone or more matching institution's representative. At step 435, theappointment system 5 determines the contacts associated with thematching institution. At step 440, the appointment system 5 connects orfacilitates the connection of the user to the determined contactperson(s). The appointment system 5 may connect the user through anysuitable means, such as through text messaging, instant messaging, phonecalls, video chat, and the like, to name a few.

After facilitating or providing a connection between a user andrepresentative, and/or after receiving an appointment selection, theappointment system 5, at step 445, sends to the user or user device 30information regarding the selected matching institution. For example theappointment system 5 can send to the user device information regardingthe matching institution and programs, tuition costs, campusinformation, location information etc.

In an exemplary embodiment, a user may be provided the option toschedule an appointment to connect (e.g., teleconference, email, text,instant message, etc.) with a third party system or representativethereof who is not affiliated with the selected education institution.For example, a user may be connected to a third party representativesuch as, for example, an educational advisor/expert. The third partysystem and/or the representative can be associated and/or affiliatedwith the appointment system 5. In such situations, the user may not beprovided and/or have access to all the same information in comparison tosituations when connected to a representative of the educationinstitution. Further, in some embodiments, the system, after finishingan appointment or session with a third party representative, the systemmay connect and/or direct the user to the education institution. Forexample, the system 1 thereafter may allow the user to thereafter set upan appointment with the institution in accordance with embodimentsdescribed herein.

If a user does not select an appointment, the appointment system 5 maysave and store the matches so as to allow a user to schedule anappointment at a subsequent time without having to re-enter information.In some exemplary embodiments, the appointment system 5 may providedirections to the institution in the case of a scheduled face-to-faceappointment. As shown in FIG. 6C, the appointment system 5 can rely onthird-party services, such as, for example, Google Maps, Yahoo Maps,Apple Maps, etc. to provide locations and/or directions to the user.

In exemplary embodiments, the appointment system 5 collects data andstatistics about the users of the appointment system 5. The collectedinformation and statistics can be included in generated reports whichthe appointment system 5 can provide to the participating institutions.The collected information may contain information that is helpful indetermining which factors determine interest in a particular institutionand/or competitor institutions. The reports may be generated or providedon demand or on a scheduled basis to the one or more institutions.

It will be understood that that any of the above steps and/or elementscan be combined, separated, in any combination and/or separationthereof, and/or taken in any order. For ease, some of the steps aredescribed as being sequential and/or in order. This is merely for easeand is not in any way meant to be a limitation.

Now that exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been shownand described in detail, various modifications and improvements thereonwill become readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed:
 1. A method comprising: (a) receiving, at one or morecomputers from a requestor device, a request for one or more educationalinstitution matches; (b) obtaining, at the one or more computers via aninterface, user information associated with a user of the requestordevice, the user information comprising: (1) user identification dataincluding information identifying the user; (2) demographic dataincluding information identifying demographic data related to the user;(3) location data including information indicating one or more addressesassociated with the user; (4) education data including informationindicating educational background of the user; (5) education preferencedata including information indicating educational preferences for theuser; and (6) contact data including information indicating contactinformation for the user; (c) accessing, by the one or more computers,one or more electronic databases stored on one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media and operatively connected to the one ormore computers, the one or more databases comprising information for aplurality of educational institutions, including for the respectiveinstitutions: (1) user educational identification data includinginformation identifying the user; (2) education location data includinginformation identifying one or more locations associated with therespective educational institution; (3) education program data includinginformation related to education programs associated with the respectiveeducational institution; (4) education requirements data includinginformation indicating admission requirements and admission preferencesfor respective educational institution; (5) representative dataincluding information indicating representatives for the respectiveeducational institution; and (6) appointment data including informationindicating scheduled and available times; (d) determining, by the one ormore computers, based at least in part on the obtained user information,one or more educational institutions as matches; (e) providing, by theone or more computers, the one or more education institution matches asselectable options to the requestor device via the interface; (f)transmitting, by the one or more computers to one or more computersassociated with each of the matched educational institutions, anotification to each of the educational institution matches, thenotification including a message indicating that the educationalinstitution matches a prospect; (g) obtaining, at the one or morecomputers from the requestor device via the interface, a selection of aneducational institution; (h) determining, by the one or more computers,one or more available appointment times for the selected educationalinstitution; (i) determining, at the one or more computers, whether anappointment time has been selected from the one or more availableappointment times for the selected educational institution; (j) upon thecondition that an appointment time has not been selected: (1) obtaining,at the one or more computers from the requestor device via theinterface, a request to communicate with the selected educationalinstitution; (2) determining, by the one or more computers, a contact ofthe selected educational institution; (3) providing, by the one or morecomputers, connection between the requestor device and the contact ofthe selected educational institution; (k) upon the condition that anappointment time has been selected: (1) transmitting, by the one or morecomputers to one or more computers associated with the selectededucational institution, a confirmation-seeking message requestingconfirmation of the selected appointment time with a designatedrepresentative of the selected educational institution; (2) obtaining,at the one or more computers, a message indicating confirmation of theappointment time by selected educational institution with a designatedrepresentative; (3) transmitting, by the one or more computers, aconfirmation message to the requestor device confirming the date, time,location; (4) transmitting, by the one or more computers to therequestor device via the interface, directions to the selectededucational institution; and (5) transmitting, by the one or morecomputers, a request to a third party service to cause a mapillustrating the directions to be displayed on the interface on therequestor device.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofproviding connection comprises connecting the requestor device with thecontact of the selected educational institution via at least one of thefollowing: text message, instant message, phone call and video chat. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising: (l) transmitting, by the oneor more computer's to the requestor device, a reminder notificationregarding the confirmed appointment.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe obtained user's education data comprises at least one of a highschool, college, or postgraduate school attendance dates.
 5. The methodof claim 1, the education data further comprises one or more degreescompleted by the user to the extent they exist.
 6. The method of claim4, the education data further comprises the user's grade point averagein at least one of high school, college, or postgraduate school.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein at least one of the provided matches is asponsored match.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: (m)generating, by the one or more computers, a report that includes dataassociated with user information associated with one or more users thathave selected the educational institution.
 9. The method of claim 8,further comprising: (n) providing, by the one or more computers, thereport to the selected educational facility.
 10. A system comprising:one or more data processing apparatus; and a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium coupled to the one or more data processingapparatus having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by theone or more data processing apparatus, cause the one or more dataprocessing apparatus to perform a method comprising: (a) receiving, atone or more computers from a requestor device, a request for one or moreeducational institution matches; (b) obtaining, at the one or morecomputers via an interface, user information associated with a user ofthe requestor device, the user information comprising: (1) useridentification data including information identifying the user; (2)demographic data including information identifying demographic datarelated to the user; (3) location data including information indicatingone or more addresses associated with the user; (4) education dataincluding information indicating educational background of the user; (5)education preference data including information indicating educationalpreferences for the user; and (6) contact data including informationindicating contact information for the user; (c) accessing, by the oneor more computers, one or more electronic databases stored on one ormore non-transitory computer-readable storage media and operativelyconnected to the one or more computers, the one or more databasescomprising information for a plurality of educational institutions,including for the respective institutions: (1) user educationalidentification data including information identifying the user; (2)education location data including information identifying one or morelocations associated with the respective educational institution; (3)education program data including information related to educationprograms associated with the respective educational institution; (4)education requirements data including information indicating admissionrequirements and admission preferences for respective educationalinstitution; (5) representative data including information indicatingrepresentatives for the respective educational institution; and (6)appointment data including information indicating scheduled andavailable times; (d) determining, by the one or more computers, based atleast in part on the obtained user information, one or more educationalinstitutions as matches; (e) providing, by the one or more computers,the one or more education institution matches as selectable options tothe requestor device via the interface; (f) transmitting, by the one ormore computers to one or more computers associated with each of thematched educational institutions, a notification to each of theeducational institution matches, the notification including a messageindicating that the educational institution matches a prospect; (g)obtaining, at the one or more computers from the requestor device viathe interface, a selection of an educational institution; (h)determining, by the one or more computers, one or more availableappointment times for the selected educational institution; (i)determining, at the one or more computers, whether an appointment timehas been selected from the one or more available appointment times forthe selected educational institution; (j) upon the condition that anappointment time has not been selected: (1) obtaining, at the one ormore computers from the requestor device via the interface, a request tocommunicate with the selected educational institution; (2) determining,by the one or more computers, a contact of the selected educationalinstitution; (3) providing, by the one or more computers, connectionbetween the requestor device and the contact of the selected educationalinstitution; (k) upon the condition that an appointment time has beenselected: (1) transmitting, by the one or more computers to one or morecomputers associated with the selected educational institution, aconfirmation-seeking message requesting confirmation of the selectedappointment time with a designated representative of the selectededucational institution; (2) obtaining, at the one or more computers, amessage indicating confirmation of the appointment time by selectededucational institution with a designated representative; (3)transmitting, by the one or more computers, a confirmation message tothe requestor device confirming the date, time, location; (4)transmitting, by the one or more computers to the requestor device viathe interface, directions to the selected educational institution; and(5) transmitting, by the one or more computers, a request to a thirdparty service to cause a map illustrating the directions to be displayedon the interface on the requestor device.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein the step of providing connection comprises connecting therequestor device with the contact of the selected educationalinstitution via at least one of the following: text message, instantmessage, phone call and video chat.
 12. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: (l) transmitting, by the one or more computer's to therequestor device, a reminder notification regarding the confirmedappointment.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the obtained user'seducation data comprises at least one of a high school, college, orpostgraduate school attendance dates.
 14. The method of claim 10, theeducation data further comprises one or more degrees completed by theuser to the extent they exist.
 15. The method of claim 13, the educationdata further comprises the user's grade point average in at least one ofhigh school, college, or postgraduate school.
 16. The method of claim10, wherein at least one of the provided matches is a sponsored match.17. The method of claim 10, further comprising: (m) generating, by theone or more computers, a report that includes data associated with userinformation associated with one or more users that have selected theeducational institution.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:(n) providing, by the one or more computers, the report to the selectededucational facility.